The use of robotics to provide hands-on instruction across the various disciplines of engineering
and computer science is no longer the prohibitively expensive proposition it once was. With the
emergence of inexpensive robot kits that encompass a background in electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, robotics can now play a
central role in the education of students in these disciplines. A critical obstacle to this goal,
however, is the lack of familiarity that students in each discipline have for the other fields of
study, making a thorough understanding of overall robotics design principles quite difficult.
This paper presents a model for multidisciplinary cooperation that alleviates this problem and
elevates robotics to a potentially pivotal position in engineering education.

I. Introduction

Robotics provides a comprehensive view of an integrated, fully engineered system. It affords a
view of information processing from the microprocessor level up through the application
software, and it illustrates the connection between mechanical, electrical, and computing
components. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, the study of robotics in the classroom can
be a valuable tool for the practical, hands-on application of concepts across various engineering
and science topics.1 Furthermore, the curriculum in any specific area of study tends to narrowly
focus students on that area, whereas real-world complex systems tend to integrate electrical,
mechanical, and computing components. The study of robotics provides a medium for students
to experience this integration and to see the interaction between the various types of systems.

Its multidisciplinary nature has also relegated the study of robotics to larger research universities
and private industrial research groups whose members have had the full range of prerequisite
knowledge to engineer such complex systems. Pre-constructed industrial robots could be
purchased, but their exorbitant prices made them cost prohibitive to the more modest budgets of
smaller educational institutions. With the emergence of inexpensive computational components,
robot platforms have become more accessible to such smaller programs.

More importantly, these platforms have made the area of robotics accessible by removing the
need to have a background in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer
science simultaneously. Platforms such as the Handyboard and the LEGO RCX2 have managed
to allow users to cross the threshold of indignation, which is “the maximal behavioral component
that we are willing to make to get a task done.”3 If end users perceive that their efforts must go
beyond this point, a new tool will not succeed in the consumer market, no matter how good or